SynFutures is a next-generation derivatives exchange, which is guided by the principle of openness and accessibility for its users.

On December 22, Matt TFG, Partner and CSO of SynFutures, joined us to answer our questions.

Matt TFG, Partner and CSO of SynFutures

Prior to starting SynFutures, I established one world’s largest consortium blockchain-based cross-border trade finance platforms. I had many years of experience in trading and investment for an investment bank and large multinational fintech company.

Questions from the CryptoRank team

#1. Can you tell us about SynFutures? What problems do you solve, both in the space and for the community?

Matt: – SynFutures is a decentralized synthetic asset derivatives trading platform (i.e. derivatives DEX). In Version 1, we launch an Ethereum-based futures market for a variety of assets, including Ethereum native, cross-chain, and off-chain real-world assets to be synthesized and freely traded against ERC 20 tokens as margin. In many exchanges, users can only trade the pairs that have been already provided. Many long-tail assets are not available, especially in terms of perpetual and futures. We want to provide all the traders a place to trade any asset they want at any time, in a DeFi way.

The second part is about the quality of DeFi derivatives products. Also, the current offerings in the derivatives DEX market are of different qualities. With solid financial engineering and tech capabilities, we believe that SynFutures offers a better derivatives product in the DeFi world. One comparison with Synthetix can be found here: https://medium.com/synfutures/why-synfutures-is-better-than-synthetix-in-defi-derivatives-b359b670f9f7.

On the community side, there is a top-down high-end committee that the SynFutures team is leading called FutureX. https://medium.com/synfutures/introducing-futurex-synfutures-pre-dao-committee-fe40d48d34cb. This committee meets every two to three weeks talking about industry-leading topics such as NFT, layer 2, and gamefi. We encourage all types of participation from the community including participating in our events, registering as an ambassador, trade on our platform, and tuning in for the next FutureX.

#2. Could you briefly describe the milestones SynFutures has achieved, and about your upcoming plans?

Matt: – As we are progressing in product launches (v2 and v3), we are also expanding the community and partnerships. We will continue to level the playing field for the average investor by improving our users’ capital efficiency, simplifying the UIUX. We believe that DeFi will have 100 million users in 1 year’s time. Therefore there are vast opportunities, yet requiring a user-centric model, rather than purely tech. So far we have 50,000+ users already.

In January SynFutures has been seeded by Dragonfly and Standard Crypto. In Q1 this year, we have deployed our V1 fixed margin futures on Kovan testnet with an external security audit. In June we announced 14mio USD Series A funding led by Polychain. Also in June, we started a Closed Alpha. Starting October, we started a Beta stage for version 1 smart contracts. Going forward we would continue to level the playing field for the average investor by improving our users’ capital efficiency, simplifying the UIUX, and launching new products.

Questions from Twitter

#1. SynFutures wants to be the top brand in the blockchain Industry. But can you tell us what are your strategies to stay on top? Can you tell us what are the requirements for becoming regional ambassadors? What are your steps on global expansion?

Matt: – Our aim is to democratize the derivatives market. Our clients are any potential users who would like to trade derivatives, including retail and institutions. We realize that the larger demand in directives is actually on the retail side rather than institutions. This on the surface looks different from the traditional finance world, however completely in line with what we see in the centralized exchanges. As of the today’s total number of users in the world of DeFi, it’s about 3 to 5 million. This is the user number of uniswap, slightly lower than the monthly active users of metamask wallet which is around 10 million.

We believe that the potential derivatives market size is larger than any of the numbers we mentioned earlier. Therefore in six months to one year’s time, we will be receiving new demands from people who are unfamiliar with derivatives, unfamiliar with cryptocurrency, and of course, people who do not speak English. We are positioned for such growth:

• We built easy to use user interface which is very rare in the world of DeFi
• We are building a global community and global user base rather than focusing on a specific jurisdiction origin
• On top of the English-centric content strategy today, we will shortly launch a couple of local language community channels all in our discord server, with the help of a community of ambassadors.

To become our ambassadors, you will be upgraded to the corresponding level after completing relevant tasks. Our mission 6 for ambassador program will soon be announced, stay tuned! If you are interested in becoming our local channel leader, please go and apply via https://synfutures.wufoo.com/forms/pk9be731sl0h08/.

#2. SynFutures launched FutureX, their pre-DAO committee that will control all SynFutures decisions and actions. So, does this mean that you are preparing for full community governance of the platform? What are the positives and negatives you have evaluated with FutureX?

Matt: – FutureX is a pre-DAO committee that takes place every 2 to 3 weeks. Read more intro here: https://medium.com/synfutures/introducing-futurex-synfutures-pre-dao-committee-fe40d48d34cb. There are meet-ups with Crypto and DeFi thought leaders, degen entrepreneurs, smart money, and grass-root community members. In the previous FutureX meet-ups, we covered interesting topics such as the crossroads of NFT and DeFi, an in-depth discussion on Layer2’s road ahead, and where the hot GameFi sector is heading for. We just had our last FutureX several hours ago, talking about the market outlook for 2022.

#3. SynFutures is a decentralized synthetic asset derivative trading platform and in its first release, it launches an Eth-based futures market for a variety of assets. But, in the future with later versions, they could develop markets based on BSC, Solana, or Polkadot?

Matt: – Now we have already supported 4 networks: Ethereum/Polygon/BSC/Arbitrum. Of course, going forward, we will support more networks and collaborate with other ecosystems.

Questions from Telegram

#1. What are the advantages SynFutures offers for new traders who want to start derivatives trading and how will we benefit from your derivatives? What is your Solid Risk Management system? How are users’ risk profiles determined in this system, can you tell us about your risk management system?

Matt: – The key futures that differentiate SynFutures v1 from any other existing Defi Derivatives include:

• List any assets within 30 seconds. Put simply, SynFutures is the Uniswap for futures contracts: users can easily list their own futures contracts of arbitrary trading pairs with just a few clicks. There is no need to even go through a DAO or committee as other DEX do.
• Single-token LP. Users can use one token to provide liquidity to various asset pairs, whether it be large-cap cryptocurrencies, altcoins, traditional equities, gold, indices, or any other asset they desire. Typical LPs use USDC, USDT, ETH, WETH, WBTC, BUSD etc for their liquidity provision without exposing to the underlying asset directional risk
• Rigid risk management and safety. Backed by solid experience from the TradFi financial engineering and DeFi protocol safety, SynFutures has many risk management features (e.g. anti-flashloan attack, EMA smoothing method, etc.) and has gone through external code audits.

#2. You said that SynFutures uses the sAMM model. How does the sAMM model work, how does it differ from traditional AMMs, and how does it create liquidity in various asset pairs? How does SynFutures use Hash Rate Oracles and what is its key advantage over other oracles? How does your Oracle system offer pricing discovery?

Matt: – The sAMM model is slightly different from the AMM model (say in Uniswap v2 or Sushiswap), where the positions in the AMM are created synthetically, with a single token LP model (i.e. LP does not have directional exposure). Hash rate oracle is a key product we offer on SynFutures. Here is more details on this topic: https://medium.com/synfutures/the-fully-trustless-oracle-for-btc-hash-rate-futures-e516e6b8a16.

#3. NFTs is hot trending now, Do you have a play to have NFTs in your platform? If so, can you tell us the plans of your project in NFTs?

Matt: – We believe NFT x DeFi would have new models which lower entry barriers of new users and promote financial democratization. We have issued NFTs to core members of the community and key contributors, as well as top traders on SynFutures. We are also in the process to develop the world’s first NFT Futures. Here are some more details: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/10/05/nft-market-too-frothy-now-you-can-short-it/.